


"Favorite Uncle" is a Dubious Honor

by orphan_account



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: 2x6, AU, Duo is Handy with Machinery, Ficlet, Fluff, June 11th prompt, Lawn Maintenance, M/M, Our Summer of Zechs, Target trips, Zechs is the Best Uncle Ever, hot neighbor, lavender - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-11-13 04:18:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11176863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Summary: Zechs visits his sister and her offspring, and he’s reminded of why he hasn’t taken that leap and started a family of his own.





	"Favorite Uncle" is a Dubious Honor

**Author's Note:**

> This is my Summer of Zechs entry for June 11th. Sorry I haven’t had time to participate in the other prompts.

He heard the smothered giggles in the corridor first, stirring from a too-short, jet-lagged sleep. Then, tiny footsteps receded from the bedroom door, and he cracked one eye open in anticipation. This wasn’t his first rodeo.

Then, he thought better of it when he heard the feet come tiptoeing back and the door crack open just the tiniest sliver. Four and six-year-olds breathed remarkably loud. Zechs rolled over and pulled the covers just over his ear, and open invitation, and just for good measure, he pretended to snore like a buzzsaw.

His niece and nephew never turned down a good opportunity. The bedroom door burst open, and they flooded his room with giggles as they leapt onto him. Oscar had clearly hit another growth spurt… _ow_. The bed bounced beneath their weight, and Molly clung to him like a baby koala, smothering him from atop the covers. They wouldn’t stop giggling as Zechs complained in his Grouchy Uncle voice.

“Who let you two in here?”

“We LIVE here,” Oscar bragged to him as he jumped on the bed. “It’s. Time. To. Wake. UP.”

One glance at the digital clock in Relena’s guest room told him it was anything but.

“Did your mother give you two coffee?”

“We’re not allowed to drink coffee,” Molly reminded him, wrinkling her nose in distaste. Zechs reached up over his shoulder and tweaked it, making her grin at him. 

“Did your mother make ME any coffee?”

“I don’t know,” Oscar told him. 

“Wake up, Uncle Zechs!”

“You have to come see my new game,” Oscar added. .Zechs sighed, then groaned. 

“I’m getting too old to be jumped on,” he said gently.

“No, you’re not!” Molly argued as she scrambled off the bed and rolled the covers off of him. Zechs was grateful that he decided to wear his boxers to bed, but he wasn’t presentable for breakfast, yet. Oscar hopped off the bed and ran to the door, holding it open for him. Zechs rummaged in his wheeled suitcase and found a pair of chambray blue pajama bottoms and an undershirt. His hair was a rat’s nest, loosely braided to avoid tangles, but half of it slipped loose, anyway. Zechs regretted having his sleep cut short, but he didn’t mind leaving the fluffy guest room decorated in lavender. Lavender walls. Lavender and white polka dotted spread and sheets. Lavender floral curtains and valences on the windows. A lavender ginger jar lamp with a fringed shade. Lavender throw rugs. Lavender pillows. Zechs wondered if the only houseguest Relena ever expected to keep for the night was the Easter Bunny.

Molly held her arms up. “Carry me!”

“Me, too!” Oscar insisted.

And they just giggled the whole way down the stairs when he carried Molly under his arm like a sack of potatoes and fireman carried Oscar over his shoulder, rolling his eyes and wondering how his life came down to this. He caught a whiff of sizzling oil and eggs, but the scent of coffee was suspiciously absent. Relena looked up from the frying pan and gave him a look of dismay.

“Kids… you were supposed to let him sleep! What did I tell you about waking him up?”

“I don’t know,” Molly lied as Zechs set her down. She held her hands behind her back and did that little twist that Relena recognized as I Know You Told Me Not to, But it Seemed Like a Good Idea, Anyway.

“He was done sleeping,” Oscar said. 

“Well, I am _now_ ,” Zechs corrected him.

“Kids, next time, please don’t do that. Let your uncle wake up on his own. He had a long flight last night.” Relena tightened the sash of her pink bathrobe and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Hers was tousled, too, and scraped into a hasty ponytail. She had cut it since he last visited, and Relena had filled out slightly, but it looked good on her. She looked content. Comfortable.

“Do you have coffee?”

“I was just about to make some.” She dug out a bag of Starbucks Veranda Blend grounds and scooped a generous amount into the coffee filter. “I have some half-and-half in the fridge if you want to get it.”

“Do you have anything else besides eggs?”

“Take a peek in there. Alex went shopping last night before your plane came in. Whatever you want, I can fix.” Zechs found the half-and-half, gripping the carton while he moved different foods around on the shelves. He pulled out a link of turkey kielbasa, a red bell pepper, and a block of jack cheese.

“Ooh, that looks good.” Relena’s face lit up. 

“I don’t like peppers.” Molly made a face. “They taste yucky.”

“No, they’re delicious,” Relena insisted as she took down a cutting board from the cabinet. Zechs diced the pepper while Relena plated the plain scrambled eggs for Oscar and Molly and poured them some milk. Their toast popped up, slightly well done, but she slathered it with grape jelly. They sat and ate at a kid-sized table in the corner of the kitchen. Zechs watched the coffee pot fill impatiently, craving its warm sting on his tongue.

They ate. Zechs nursed his coffee in both hands while Relena chattered on about PTA meetings, Alex’s plan to buy a boat that summer, a lunch date she had with a former coworker, and her plans for the back deck. Zechs nodded and mumbled in the affirmative every so often, tucking into his food to avoid having to talk. 

“You’re looking too skinny,” she told him. “Doesn’t Tom feed you?”

“Not lately.”

She paused in spreading jelly on her own slice of toast. “Not lately?”

“Hasn’t for a while. He left.”

“Oh.” She gave the toast grave attention, continuing the purple coat to the outer edge of the bread. “Was that rough?”

“Not. Really.”

“Okay.”

She fought the very Relena-like urge to pepper him with questions and platitudes. Time with his sister and her offspring was a distraction, and it gave him the chance to step out of his own head for a little while.

He took another bite of his eggs. “This was good. Thanks.”

“There’s plenty more.” And she topped off his coffee before refilling her own. 

*

Relena took them all to Target later that morning so that Zechs could pick up the toiletries that he couldn’t travel with, like a decent bottle of conditioner. Relena filled the red cart with odds and ends, eventually making Molly climb out of it when her detergent bottles began to crowd her. Zechs hated the Saturday crowds and the claustrophobic displays of special sale items, pyramids of goods placed to clog foot traffic in every other aisle. Oscar enjoyed the reflection of the fluorescent light panes on the white floor tile, and he made a point of trying to outrun each one until Relena asked him to stop.

“When’s the last time you mowed your lawn?”

“Alex keeps meaning to do it. We just changed the oil in the mower. Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m not worried about it. I’m going to do it.”

“You’re supposed to be on vacation!”

“I am.”

“That doesn’t mean doing your sister’s yard work.”

“It’s relaxing.”

Famous last words.

 

Zechs rolled the old, rickety-sounding Craftsman mower out from the garage and filled it from the big, yellow gas can. He primed it a few times, waited a moment, and then primed it again. He lined it up at the edge of the lawn and pulled the rip cord.

It jammed. Zechs cursed. He tried again, with no success. He tugged it again and managed to get the reel to turn, but the engine wouldn’t turn over. _Thunk-eta-thunk-eta-thunk-eta._ Over and over. He primed the gas again, waited a moment, and tried again. This time, it caught for a moment, waited for him to walk a yard, then quit again. “And you said you changed the oil?” he muttered aloud. Zechs cursed up a storm, wondering if the mower needed new spark plugs. But he tried again. And again. His arm developed a kink in it from pulling the uncooperative cord.

“Hey. Need a hand?”

The soft tenor startled him, and Zechs tried not to resent his visitor too much for chuckling at him as he jumped out of his skin. “Wow. Sorry.”

“Do you always sneak up on…people?” Zechs’ voice failed him as the young man before him held out a long-fingered, slender hand. 

“Only when they’re in the middle of something that requires their full attention. I’m Duo. And I see you’ve met Relena’s lawnmower.”

“It’s a piece of shit.”

“You ain’t lyin’, pal. You just hafta sweet-talk it.” Duo pulled the mower back off the grass and onto the pavement for a moment. He held down the strip across the handle, grabbed the cord, and let it rip, and the engine purred to life.

“What.” Zechs opened his mouth, then shut it. Duo added insult to injury by mowing a neat row down the edge of the lawn. “Runs like a top!”

The universe clearly hated him. That was the only explanation Zechs could find for his aggravation over his defeat to the lawnmower, and for making such a fool of himself in front of Relena’s _smoking hot neighbor._ Compact build. Chestnut hair hanging down his neck in a neat, tempting plait. An equally tempting ass shrink-wrapped in torn jeans.

“I can… I can do that.”

“I’ve got it. Don’t worry about it,” Duo called out over the sound of the engine. “You can buy the drinks!”

“That’s… that’s fine.” Duo grinned at him as he continued to mow in impeccable rows. Zechs decided to meet him halfway and retrieved the edge trimmer and power cord. The two of them made short work of the front yard. Zechs rolled the garbage bin to the edge of the yard and helped Duo empty the bag of clippings into it. Their hands bumped. Zechs felt himself flush a little at the contact. Grass flecks clung to the sweat on Duo’s fair arms. He had a few freckles. Zechs caught himself staring.

“So, you’re staying with Lena?”

“For a few days. Just flew back from Paris.”

“Wow. Arms must be tired.”

Zechs made shooty fingers at him. 

“Sorry.”

“That was awful.”

“I’ve got a million of ‘em.”

“I don’t think my sister has any beer.”

“That’s okay. I was thinking more along the lines of Dairy Queen.”

That was how he ended up sitting on the homely orange vinyl booth seat, sipping on a lemon freeze, watching Duo work on a chocolate-dipped cone. Watching that mouth lapping at the vanilla soft serve and devour the chocolate shell was its own torture. Duo Maxwell had a sinful mouth. 

“Do you always come to your neighbors’ rescue when they have a lawn maintenance emergency?”

“Only the tall, blonde variety.”

Zechs’ eyes crinkled as he sipped his freeze.


End file.
